DIGITAL MEDIA MASTERS;AD AGE'S CYBERMARKETING LEADERS OF THE YEAR

Here, in short, is what it takes to be a Digital Media Master: Work long, hard hours (no fewer than 70 per week). Go against the flow, but do it on the Web. And in your precious little spare time, take a cooking class.

Advertising Age's second annual tallying of the marketing world's interactive leaders includes such names as John Danner, developer of the NetGravity AdServer technology to deliver Web advertising, and David Dowling, the 29-year-old media exec leading Grey Advertising's charge to turn Web advertising on its head.

While it's been said that the Web is a young person's world, that's not the case among the Digital Media Masters. Half are 35 or older, making them positively ancient, at least in Web years.

Putting these executives in one room together would surely result in a cacophony of disagreement about the future of interactive marketing. But there's no arguing this point: While this industry is all about seizing the day, it takes skill to turn that time in the sun into a year, or even more. The Digital Media Masters are among the few who can.